Goodbye
by Hikari Daeron
Summary: Spoiler of a later DOOM DOMA WAKING THE DRAGONS episode. Joey's POV during his second duel with Mai.


_Goodbye_

Warning: Spoiler of a later DOOM/DOMA/WAKING THE DRAGONS episode.

It's longer than the last one I put up.

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My eyes surveyed her.

The entire time we were dueling, she kept saying that she hated me. She said that I was ruining her life, that she was not the person I once knew.

I knew that she was going to _keep_ saying that she wasn't my friend, that she hated me, and that crap. It was because of that freak that goes stealing people's souls – Dartz. He was the one who put a spell on her, so now she thinks that she hates me.

But deep down inside, spell or no spell, we both knew that she didn't.

Both of us knew that she valued my friendship. She had told me herself.

By the end of this duel, she'd remember. She'd know.

"Deep down inside, behind the anger and hatred, you value my friendship!" I told her. I continued with my move, knowing that I wouldn't hold up much longer.

"That's a lie!"

We continued this way. I told her how much I cared for her, that she was one of the best duelists I know, that she _did _like me, and it was because of the stupid spell that she was acting this way. She pretty much told me to shut up.

My eyes blurred and I shook my head. The last duel that I had, where I beat Valon, one of Dartz's lackeys, really took it out of me. I was exhausted. If I could only stay awake a little longer…

I loved her. I knew that since the moment I met her, back in the day. I met her over three years ago, on the ship to the island known as Duelist Kingdom, the first tournament I ever participated in. She came flouncing by. I showed immediately that I was attracted to her. She ignored me.

But then she challenged me to a duel. I asked her what she would do with the three million dollar prize money. "Why, spend it on myself, of course!" She made it sound as if that was the obvious reason. "I'd get whatever I want! That's what these tournaments are all about, anyway: getting famous and getting money."

"Really?" I laughed. "Well, to me, this tournament means much more than that!" She stared at me. "I'm fighting to save my sister!" Without the three million dollars prize money, she would go blind. I _needed _that money. I was going to fight my best and win it for her.

She had snorted to my response, and we dueled. And I won. She couldn't believe that I had beaten her – me, a mere beginner! But I did.

Later, some creep stole all of her star chips – they were what kept her in the tournament. My friends and I beat the creep, and gave them back.

"Up high!" I slapped them into her hands. She stared at them. It was too much to thank me.

And then, when it was in the semi-finals and I was supposed to present the card that would let me duel, I couldn't find it. I hardly had any time left – and broke out in tears. I had lost. My sister would go blind.

"Stop your crying." She held out a handkerchief.

"Who's crying!" I retorted, taking it, and trying to stop. "I've… I've got something in my eye!"

"Uh-huh." I opened the handkerchief as she walked away and saw the card that I need to duel.

"Hey, you forgot your card!"

"You keep it. I don't need it anymore." She had lost in the last duel, and was out of the tournament. "Use it for your little sister, and beat that creep!"

I stared at the card. It was my key to victory. I suddenly realized that I didn't have a lot of time left. "Hey, does that mean we're friends now?"

She rolled her eyes and walked away.

And I ended up winning that duel.

I saw her again, in Battle City, the next tournament. She helped me, whether she knew it or not, when my mind was being controlled. When I was remembering things from the past, I thought of her. And then, after that duel, she helped me stop feeling sorry for myself. After slapping me, she said, "You're your sister's idol! Don't you get it! You showed true courage up there, like you did in Duelist Kingdom!"

While we were driving to the finals with everyone else, I asked her why she saved my butt in Duelist Kingdom, by handing me her card. "Because you looked so pathetic!" she said. But, more seriously, she added, "Because I was touched by your story and wanted to help – we're friends, anyway." At the time, I was distracted and didn't take that in.

And then that creepy movie star came and proposed to her – at the time, I was all for it, saying that I could visit her and crap. But, deep inside, I _wanted_ her to refuse – which is what she did. Afterwards, when she dueled the creep, I commented that, "Of course she's cool – if you think it's cool to have a loud mouth, a mean disposition, and to walk around like you're the greatest thing since cheese fries!" She hadn't been pleased, but liked when I said that I knew first hand how good of a duelist she was. And when the creep tried to kidnap her and left her hanging on a pole, I told her to jump – I'd catch her. She did so, and mentioned that I was a real hero, unlike the movie star.

She also supported me in one of the duels in the semi-finals, telling me not to give up. Later, when I was unconscious, she was among the group of friends who helped me up in my dream. I hadn't wanted her to know that I thought of her, so I told her that she wasn't there.

I regretted that later, when she dueled. Her memories were wiped out – she couldn't even _see _me. But then, before she would have been defeated, I jumped in front of her. "I'll save you!" I told her, trying to free her from the wall she was tied to, that prevented her from surrendering or escaping.

"Go save yourself!" she yelled, when it was hopeless. I shielded her.

"I'll be right here!"

I saw the tears that stung in her eyes. "Thank you."

It ended up that her mind was locked away anyway. I couldn't save her. So I fought that tournament for her. When I lost my duel and my mind was locked away to, I was able to come back for one reason – to save her. Which I was able to do, by helping my friend.

At the end of the tournament, she commented to me that, "You know, the best thing about this whole tournament was that I got to know _you_."

I hadn't seen her since then. When I did see her, I only glimpsed her quickly; she saved my friends and me from a bunch of crazy motorcyclists.

We met her soon after that. By then, she was under the spell. She and I dueled, and I would have won, if it weren't for Valon interfering. I found out that now she and Valon worked for a guy named Dartz, and that she would get "power" because of that alliance.

I promised everyone then that I would save her.

I looked up, coming back to the present. She was about to finish me off. I only had a few hundred life points, and she was about to win. She called the attack, but then… she stopped. She couldn't do it.

I had accomplished my task. I could stop fighting, because she _remembered_. She remembered out bond. I had saved her.

The Seal of Oreichalkos, which was how Dartz stole the souls of others, came in around me, ready to take mine too. "JOEY NO!"

She shouted my name – my first name, not just "Wheeler" – and caught me as I fell. My vision was completely blurry. "I didn't call the attack, you haven't lost!" she said desperately.

"I'm… too tired… to fight." The Seal came in around us, around me.

She protested. I smiled. She _knew_. She _knew _that we were still friends. She _knew _that I cared about her, and that she cared about me. Some might have said that I lost that duel. But to me, I _won_.

At last, I can rest.

Goodbye Mai.

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Veena: So... anyone up for a game of checkers after that happy story? 

Me: Yeah, lets.


End file.
